


Tea in Bed: An Interlude

by darrowby85



Series: The Scenic Route [2]
Category: All Creatures Great and Small (TV), All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Pastiche
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darrowby85/pseuds/darrowby85
Summary: A sequel to “The Scenic Route”, with less outright ridiculousness and a focus on Siegfried and his reactions to things, and plenty of tea and crumpets.





	Tea in Bed: An Interlude

Siegfried was, understandably, somewhat bemused by the events of the previous few days. He had left Skeldale House on a relatively normal morning, fulminating a little about his brother’s non-appearance at the breakfast table, but the day had been far too fine to spend in a temper. Arriving home in the evening, he had been greeted by Mrs Hall with the alarming news that Tristan seemed somehow to have acquired an identical twin.

The truth was still difficult to credit, but now Tristan and James were somewhere amongst the stars while the Doctor, as he called himself, was lying in Tristan’s bed.

During the first few days after the Doctor’s arrival, Siegfried had had relatively little to do with him beyond ensuring that he was being adequately looked after. Tristan seemed to be showing an admirable desire to care for the patient, and Siegfried had no particular wish to intrude, still feeling that the visitor was somehow Tristan’s responsibility. Perhaps he still hadn’t quite shaken off the idea that the whole business could yet turn out to be some elaborate prank of his brother’s. If so, it wouldn’t do at all to look as if he had been taken in by it.

Now that James and Tristan were away, he thought that he ought to look in on their guest and offer him a little company, should he wish for it. He knocked softly on Tristan’s bedroom door and pushed it open gently so as not to disturb the Doctor if he was sleeping.

“Here’s some tea and crumpets with honey, old chap. How are you feeling? Any better?” asked Siegfried, seeing that the Doctor was sitting up in bed, leafing through a magazine. Siegfried hoped that Tristan had not left the Doctor any of his more regrettable choices of literature. “He looks such a prim and respectable sort, who would be scandalised by such things,” he thought, forgetting momentarily that the Doctor was a space-time traveller who must have seen all manner of things that were far more bizarre than anything that might feature in Tristan’s reading matter.

“Yes, a good deal better, thank you,” said the Doctor, trying to make his voice sound a great deal brighter than he felt. Stiff upper lip and all that. “You’ve all been very kind.” He was unable to suppress a cough.

“Don’t mention it,” said Siegfried. “I believe that you’ve been telling my brother about some of your travels. Perhaps you’d care to tell me about them, too. I’d be particularly interested to hear about the different kinds of creatures you’ve encountered out there in space, if you’re not too tired, of course.”

The Doctor would have preferred to sleep than to talk, but felt that he owed Siegfried a few tales in part-payment for his bed and board.

Siegfried could not tell whether he was more fascinated by the Doctor’s exploits themselves – impossible buildings, sailing yachts in space, many kinds of reptilian and metal creatures – or by the man in front of him, who claimed to be several hundred years old but wore his brother’s face. The inflections of his voice were different and, if one looked attentively, one could see all those years in his deep blue eyes, but otherwise he reminded Siegfried of his little brother – or rather, how his brother might be if he would only leave off the boozing and skirt-chasing, apply himself to his studies and acquire a little seriousness.

Perhaps this Doctor would be a good example for Tristan. He could already have begun to do him good. The Doctor appeared to have trusted Tristan with his ship – was this wisdom, naiveté or, with James’s arm in a sling, a lack of a better option? He, Siegfried, would not have let his brother anywhere near any vehicle that he valued. When he had done so in the past, the vehicles had invariably been returned to him with bits missing. Did the Doctor see something in Tristan that he himself had spent the past few years looking for, and had not yet quite given up hope of finding?

“… and I played in a cricket match with Lord Cranleigh in 1925.” the Doctor was saying, jolting back Siegfried’s attention, which had drifted onto the inevitable subject of Tristan.

“Oh, my dear chap! If you’re a cricketer then you’ve come to exactly the right place! It’s in the blood here. As soon as you’re better, you’ll have to have a game with the Rainby eleven. Blenkinsopp will be delighted to have some more talent on the team.”

“That would be _marvellous_ ,” said the Doctor, with sleepy contentment.

***

After learning that Tristan had crashed the TARDIS, Siegfried took it upon himself to rage at him on the Doctor’s behalf, since the Doctor appeared to have neither the inclination nor the energy to do it himself. During Tristan and James’s absence, Siegfried had spent much of his spare time talking to the Doctor and the two of them had developed an easy mutual respect. How infuriating, then, to learn that his irresponsible brother had damaged this pleasant young man’s – he couldn’t keep himself from thinking of the Doctor as a ‘pleasant young man’ despite knowing intellectually that he was a centuries-old alien being – means of transport.

“As soon as he is up and about again, you will help him to repair it. In your spare time. I’ve had to take all the calls over the past couple of days while you’ve been jaunting around in space, so I’m not giving you any extra time off” (Did Siegfried suspect that Tristan may have taken the scenic route?) “You will do his fetching and carrying for him. Don’t let me see you anywhere near the Drovers’ until the damage has been mended.”


End file.
